


Love Re-written

by n0m_de_plum



Series: Actor & Screenwriter AU [7]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Actors, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-08
Updated: 2016-05-08
Packaged: 2018-06-07 03:45:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,973
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6783814
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/n0m_de_plum/pseuds/n0m_de_plum
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Regina is a screenwriter on a HBO tv show, Robin is an actor who plays the main character's love interest. She writes steamy love scenes between the two leads, and he and his co-star sizzle while acting them out...but both are secretly using each other as inspiration.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Love Re-written

“Mom!” 

Regina’s attention snapped to Henry.

“The walk sign is on!” he pointed out.

“Right, let’s go then,” she nodded, gently guiding him into the crosswalk.

“You okay?” he asked as they reached the other side, “You seem kind of spaced out.”

“I’m fine, sweetheart,” she answered.

They walked together through the Saturday crowd gathered at Piccadilly Circus.

“So can I get two scoops?” Henry asked.

“Yes, dear,” she answered absently.

He grinned widely, and began picking up his pace. Regina dodged through the crowded, making sure to keep a close eye on him until they got to Gelupo.

Thick, sugar-scented air assailed her senses as they went inside.

“Henry, Gina!” a small, excited voice carried through the crowd.

Roland ran toward them, stopping with a big grin on his face.

“Roland, I said stay close!” Robin got out of line to chase him. Both he and Regina 

“Henry and Gina are here,” Roland pointed out, “Daddy you said they couldn’t come!”

Regina bit her lip. That was right. They had planned originally planned to take their sons here together because they had deemed it an innocent enough outing for co-workers.

She shifted uncomfortably as Robin met her eyes. He also didn’t know what to say, though.

It ended up being Henry who saved them.

“Come on, squirt” he teased, “Let’s go pick out our ice cream.”

As two went off to press their noses against the ice cream case, the adults were left in awkward silence.

“I didn’t...,” Regina started hesitantly, “...I’d already told Henry we’d come here this weekend…”

Robin nodded, “Yeah, me too.”

She shoved her hands in her pockets, shrinking into herself protectively as she looked away from his eyes.

Finally, he sighed, “It’s a public place, and it’s somewhat co-incidence we’re both here. No need to worry."

With a nod, they both took their place in the sizable queue for ordering. It was one of the longest waits she’d ever experienced.

When they finally got their ice cream, though, the fact that the shop was crowded, meaning no empty seats, came up, and Roland suggested excitedly that Henry and Regina should come with them Leicester Square.

Regina had tried to beg off with an excuse of having somewhere to be. Henry, however, had ruined that with his pre-teen tact by chiming in, “No, we don’t!”

Finally, Robin jumped in and invited them to come along, even though the look on his face made it clear he was only doing so to be polite. A fact that made Regina feel even smaller than she already did.

It was only a very short walk to the square, but that was still more than enough time for Regina to ruminate, for the millionth time, over what happened between them on Thursday at the work.

They hadn’t spoken since then.

The moment he left her office, she’d felt terrible.

She knew she should have gone after him, but didn’t. She’d just sat feeling queasy and shell-shocked.

Then later that night, even though she’d picked up her phone several times, she hadn’t been able to bring herself to call him. Her pride just kept stopping her.

She barely ventured out of her office all day Friday, and, when she did, she made sure to stay far away from the studio areas.

By the end of the day, though, she’d ended up facing the fact that she was wrong. That she’d acted like a complete brat, and needed to be the one to reach out to make things better.

After a good 20 minutes of psyching herself up, she dialed his cell phone. The call was sent to voicemail after 2 rings.

That night had been even worse than the previous one. She ended up watching her phone almost constantly, hoping that he’d call her back.

It had been a terrible night of going through dread, frustration, guilt, anger at him making her feel like she was back in high school, and then paranoia as thoughts started creeping in that maybe, since she’d already accused him of it, Robin had figured he might as well live up to her expectations and gone to Zelena for comfort.

That, of course, lead to even more guilt because it’d been that kind of thinking that got them to where they were in the first place!

She let out a breath as they reached Leicester Square, and the boys settled into an empty spot along one of the fountains to eat their gelato.

Regina had chosen not to get any for herself, as she didn’t have any appetite for it at the moment. Robin had a small cup, which he picked at while avoiding meeting her eyes.

Steeling herself, she finally said, “Robin, I’m sorry.”

He looked at her, but didn’t comment.

“I shouldn’t have said what I said,” she went on, “I was way out line. I had no right to accuse you of...any of those things.”

He shoved his spoon into the melting gelato, and, with a light touch on her arm, led them a few paces away so that they were out of an earshot but where the kids were still in sight.

“Why did you?” he demanded, “What the hell did I ever do to make you think I was that guy?”

“Nothing,” she acknowledged.

His expression told her he was not pleased with that answer.

Regina let out a shaky breath, “I just saw you with Zelena, and got caught up in all the speculation, and…”

“Is that supposed to be an excuse?” he shot back, “You were upset about me filming a nude scene with Zelena? It’s part of my job, Regina, you know that! I didn’t hold it against you last week when you called me in the middle of the night because you got so turned on imagining being seduced by Killian Jones!”

“I….that wasn’t about Jones!”

“I know that! I could easily have driven myself mad wondering if it was, though,” he hissed, “but I didn’t because I trusted you! I trusted you, and I knew that you were with me and that was what mattered!”

She looked down, “You’re right.”

He closed his eyes, and slowly shook his head, “Why, Regina? Why did you not trust me?”

Regina sighed, “It wasn’t about you-”

He glared skeptically.

“It was me!” she went on, “You were right, it was something that happened to me.”

Robin waited for her to continued.

“You aren’t the first person I’ve dated whom I met through work.”

“What’s that got to do with anything?” he asked. Hearing that was not surprising news. With the hectic work and travel schedules, many people in entertainment had relatively few opportunities to meet people outside of work.

“Well,” she explained quietly, “This guy...he was an actor...an A-lister…Graham Humbert.”

He looked at her, “You were involved with Graham Humbert?”

“In secret, but yeah.”

“When did you...when?”

She sighed, “During pre-production and filming of _20 Hues of Twilight_. I worked on the final re-writes to the film script, and...”

Robin felt his lips dropping open in shock. Regina had dated Graham Humbert? The man whom a year ago, every woman in the world had been fantasizing about having hog tie them with red ropes, or whatever the hell it had been???

He swallowed hard, suddenly feeling jealousy rising in his own chest.

“He was always obsessive about anyone finding out,” Regina explained, “The excuse was that his publicist said he needed to keep an air of availability to ramp up excitement about the film...that sort of thing. It made sense at the time, but it turned out the only person he cared about finding out was Emma Swan.”

Robin looked at her, “Okay, you’ve lost me, what does Emma have to do this? Or with me, for that matter? You keep bringing her up.”

“She was another one of the writers brought in for the final re-write on _20 Hues_. She’s talented enough, but her heart wasn’t really in writing. She always wanted to be in front of the camera. If she were anyone else she probably wouldn’t have gotten the job, but...I guess when your grandfather owns the studio that’s making the movie!” Regina said bitterly, “She got that role in her action/adventure flick just as re-writes were wrapping up, and, of course, that turned out to be her big break. I didn’t know there was anything between her and Graham. I thought that he and I...right up until he dumped me I had no idea!”

Regina swallowed hard, taking a few steps away to calm down, “I liked him, but I was just an on-set hook up. He was really waiting for Emma to get into her own success and decide to ditch her travel writer boyfriend!”

“So you think I’m going to that too? Because I’m an actor I must be a selfish bastard?”

She shook her head, “I’m sorry.”

“I’m not him, Regina!” Robin grumbled.

“I know you aren’t.”

He shifted on his feet, “Are you just telling me this as an excuse to end things?”

“No,” she protested.

“You said we didn’t mean anything! If that’s how you feel how about you just tell me?”

“I wish it was how I felt,” Regina admitted.

His eyes widened, “What?!”

“I wish I didn’t care,” she said.

“Regina-” he began angrily.

“But that isn’t the case no matter how much I wish it,” she went on, “the truth is I could fall for you so hard, and that scares the hell out of me!”

He took a good long moment to process her words before finally responding, “Well you need to get over it!”

Regina looked up at him in surprise.

“Because I have fallen for you,” he said, “but I need to know if you’re really serious about this or not!”

She looked at him sadly, “I want to be but…”

“But what?”

“I meant it I said when i said I wasn’t that person,” Regina explained, “I like this industry. I like that I get to be creative, and work in entertainment, but I never wanted to be in the spotlight! I never wanted to be that girl on the red carpet on the leading man’s arm! It’s not me. That sort of constant scrutiny...I don’t think I could handle it.”

He sighed, “I’m not asking you to be someone you aren’t! Have I ever?”

She shook her head.

“I’m getting to do what I’ve always dreamed of, and actually making a good living at it. The kind that will let me give Roland a future, but, the truth is, I’m still not used to it myself!” he said, “I’m not asking you to go on talk shows with me, Regina, I just want to not be constantly obsessing over whether someone might post a picture of us online, because I don’t care if the entire world knows! I have no reason to want to hide.”

With a tired sigh he turned away from her, watching Roland and Henry, having finished their gelato, chasing each other around the fountain.

Taking a deep breath, Regina slipped her hand into his.

When he turned to face her, she rose onto her toes and kissed him. 

“I want this, Robin,” she said, “Will you please give me another chance?”

“As if I could say ‘no’?” he asked.

Smiling happily, she slid her arms around him and embraced him tightly. He squeezed her back.

“So um...about what you said about being on the red carpet. Do you think you could manage one time?”

She pulled back to look at him.

He shrugged, “It isn’t everyday a show you work on is nominated for an Emmy. You’re part of that too, Regina. You wouldn't just be there because of me.”

She chuckled, “Okay...maybe. I’ll think about it.”

He nodded, “That’s all I ask.”

With that leaned down and kissed her. She returned the kiss, not giving one second of thought to the fact that they were in the middle of a crowded park in London for all to see.

* 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 *

Two months later:

 

Regina stared into the mirror, noting in satisfaction that the stylists she’d been with the for the past two hours had been worth it.

She would say she didn’t even recognize herself, but, in fact, she did look like herself...just the most amazing version possible.

Her lips were dark purple with matching smoky eyes, her hair had been twisted up into a fierce spiked up-do, and the dress fit her like a glove. 

It was form fitting, forest green velvet with a crystal chain draping down the open back. It was almost decadent to even look at.

She’d met plenty of stylists and designers in her career, but formal events had never been her thing, so she’d quickly found herself overwhelmed at having to make decisions on hiring them.

However, a few weeks prior, she’d also made the decision to reach out to Emma Swan for the first time since _20 Hues_ and Humbert...and might have played off the other woman’s guilt by dropping hints about the Emmys.

It worked like a charm, though, because she’d ended up arranging entire team of stylists who definitely did an excellent job!

Clearing her throat, she turned from the room and began making her way to the stair-case.

Robin had leased a rental home in the Hollywood hills for his stay in California during the filming hiatus, and he had suggested the both get ready there so that the car service only had to make one stop.

Henry and his nanny, Johanna, were both staying there with Roland tonight. It had plenty of space for them to entertain themselves, and Regina knew that between the actual event and the after parties they’d be expected to attend it’d be nearly dawn before they’d even be able to think of going home.

Robin had also shared that he arranged a room for them afterward so that they could get changed before going home...and spend some time alone.

Putting on a smile, Regina made her way down the stairs. Over the railing, she saw Robin waiting for her in the living room, and took a private moment to take him in. He looked sinfully good in his tuxedo.

Henry spotted her first, “Wow, Mom! You look great!”

She beamed at hearing the compliment from her boy, “Thank you.”

“Wow!” Roland echoed loudly, “Daddy, look! Gina really looks like a queen now!”

Glancing over at Robin, she noticed for the first time that he was staring at her dumbstruck, lips slightly parted.

“Daddy!” Roland prodded him,

“Yeah…” Robin nodded, “...yeah.”

Regina smiled and slowly walked up to stand in front of him, “Is the car here?”

“What?” he asked, before visibly shaking himself back to attention, “Oh! Yes, it’s outside.”

“Okay,” she nodded, turning back to the children, “You two be good for Johanna tonight.”

With that she allowed Roland to hug her around her legs, and leaned over to press a kiss to Henry’s forehead.

Clearing his throat, Robin lead her to the door. The two walked out to the car together, waving to Henry, Roland, and Johanna before sliding in the door that the driver was holding open for them.

Once inside, Robin pressed down the button to put the privacy screen up before they even made it out of the driveway.

She bit the inside of her cheek, determined to keep an expression of perfect innocence on her face.

As soon as it was closed he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her senseless. She let him until she felt his hand traveling up her neck to her hair.

“Hey!” she pulled away laughing, “Don’t mess up this hairdo. It nearly took magic to create it in the first place!”

His expression told her that he probably hadn’t heard a word she said though.

“You look….” he breathed, shaking his head, “...so amazing.”

“Thank you,” she purred.

He dove back into her lips almost immediately. She smiled into the kiss before pushing him away again, “I’m serious, we can’t get rumpled!”

“Lets just go to the hotel now,” he suggested, moving his lips to behind her ear.

Her eyes rolled-back at the sensation, but she managed to keep her wits about her.

“No!” she said insistently, “You were the one who asked me to come to this. We’re not backing out now.”

“Regina,” he groaned.

She held down laugher, nudging him gently, “So I suggest you spend the rest of the ride calming down, or you’ll really give the world a photo op to gossip about.”

He sighed, but took her advice, sliding a safe distance away from her on the seat.

She couldn’t help but feel puffed up at that reaction.

“It’s a good thing you don’t want to go to events like this all the time,” he commented, “If you dressed like that a regular basis you’d be the death of me!”

“I’m glad you like it,” she said, a very mean thought crossing her mind. She knew she shouldn’t, but the opportunity was just too good to resist.

“You might be interested to know that I wore something special underneath, too.”

Control top shorts and double-sided tape, but he wouldn’t know that.

The implication had it’s desired effect. She watched as his bright blue eyes grew even darker with desire.

“You are an evil woman,” he growled.

She laughed, turning her head toward the window to hide the smirk playing on her lips. As the car drove them through downtown LA, Regina still felt butterflies in her stomach at the thought of attending an event like this, but she was glad that they were in this together.


End file.
